Yes, technology is wonderful and allows us to trade alongside the biggest players with the same live information. However, we must be careful to not fall into the mistake of constantly switching and changing timeframes when we are looking at live charts and using our preferred technical indicators. Remember that although the live price remains constant, regardless of whether we’re looking at a 5 minute, hourly or daily chart, clearly the chart itself will be different and the strategy and plan must take this into account. Also bear this in mind when reading 3rd party analysis and trading recommendations – know what time frame the “tipster” is referring to in their analysis. A “buy” or “sell” signal is only relevant to one particular timeframe, so be sure to know what timeframe your strategy is based on. My preferred time frames are daily, 4 hour and hourly charts. The amount of time I intend to stay in a trade will have a strong correlation with the time frame I’m using. To this end I find trades on the 4 hour to be a comfortable fit for me. These trades are usually intraday, while occasionally holding overnight positions if I enter late in the US session.
FXtrademark: Which timeframes I use in my forex trading
